Sara Funaro (born 12 May 1976) is an Italian politician,

Mayor of Florence The Mayor of Florence is an elected politician who, along with Florence's City Council of 36 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Florence. The title is the equivalent of Lord Mayor in the meaning of an actual executive leader ...

since 26 June 2024 and is both the first woman and first Jewish person to hold this office.

Biography

Born in 1976, Funaro is the granddaughter of Piero Bargellini,

mayor of Florence The Mayor of Florence is an elected politician who, along with Florence's City Council of 36 members, is accountable for the strategic government of Florence. The title is the equivalent of Lord Mayor in the meaning of an actual executive leader ...

during the

1966 flood of the Arno The 1966 flood of the Arno () in Florence killed 101 people and damaged or destroyed millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. It is considered the worst flood in the city's history since 1557. With the combined effort of Italian and foreign ...

. She obtained a degree in clinical psychology at the

University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'') (in acronym UNIFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The f ...

and a specialization in phenomenological psychotherapy at the

University of Urbino The University of Urbino Carlo Bo (, ''UniUrb'') is an Italian university located in Urbino, in the region of Marche, in north-eastern central Italy. The main campus occupies numerous buildings throughout the historic Urbino town center and the ...

and a master's degree in ethnopsychiatry at the Center Devereux in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, Funaro has been councilor for health, reception and equal opportunities from 2014 to 2024 under the mayorship of Dario Nardella.

Mayor of Florence

In the 2024 local elections, Funaro became the

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

candidate for the office of

, supported by the Democratic Party, the

Greens and Left Alliance The Greens and Left Alliance (, AVS) is a left-wing political alliance active in Italy, which was launched on 2 July 2022 as a federation of two political parties, Italian Left (SI) and Green Europe (EV). The AVS is often referred to as a red– ...

More Europe More Europe ( or ''+Europa''; +E or +Eu) is a liberal and pro-European political party in Italy, part of the centre-left coalition and member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party. History Foundation More Europe was laun ...

and

Action Action may refer to: * Action (philosophy), something which is done by a person * Action principles the heart of fundamental physics * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video gam ...

. She was elected in the run-off against the former director of the

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of ...

Eike Schmidt, supported by the

centre-right coalition The centre-right coalition () is a political alliance of political parties in Italy active under several forms and names since 1994, when Silvio Berlusconi entered politics and formed the party. It has mostly competed with the centre-left c ...

, thus becoming the first woman to lead the city of Florence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Funaro, Sara Living people Mayors of Florence Democratic Party (Italy) politicians University of Florence alumni 1976 births